Jul. 13, 2013

Duke Behnke

Written by

Post-Crescent Media

Duke Behnke

Q: Why is Neenah replacing its “Dead End” street signs with “No Outlet” signs? Is there a difference? How much does it cost taxpayers to replace these signs?

A: If a dead-end sign is damaged or in poor condition, Neenah will replace it with a no-outlet sign.

City traffic engineer James Merten said the change is done for simplicity and to avoid the improper use of the dead-end meaning.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices — the Bible for U.S. traffic signs — says a dead-end sign “may be used at the entrance of a single road or street that terminates in a dead end or cul-de-sac.”

The manual says a no-outlet sign “may be used at the entrance to a road or road network from which there is no other exit.”

“To put it in other words,” Merten said, “all dead ends are no outlets, but not all no outlets are dead ends. So instead of having dead-end and no-outlet signs, we just have no-outlet signs. It’s one less sign that we have to make and carry around.”

Merten said Neenah only will replace dead-end signs if the signs are damaged or no longer meet federal reflectivity, font or size requirements.

“We are not replacing dead-end signs simply for the sake of changing the text to ‘no outlet,’” he said.

New no-outlet signs cost about $35, Merten said. If an aluminum sign blade is in good shape, city workers can resheet the sign for about half of the cost of a new sign. Merten said the labor cost for replacing a sign is about $8.